Day 4: Mitchell to Mount Vernon

63 miles
2800 feet of elevation gain

Well, technically we're a few miles outside of Mount Vernon at the Clyde Holiday State Park, but that's too wordy for a title.

Today I felt much better than yesterday. Part of that could of course be contributed to the fact that after a major 6 mile climb at the beginning we had a glorious 30 mile downhill with at times a tailwind. It was so much fun, and it was beautiful We were following some little river most of the way so we had a great view of a green trees and water on one side and the rugged cliffs and rocks on the other. There was practically no traffic and we were on roads blasted through the cliffs so they were soaring above us. It was great. At one point there were a few deer (males with antlers) drinking out of the river and one of them decided to race us for a bit. Well, I said he was racing us. Dad thinks he was running away, but he was going the same direction so how does that make sense? After about a minute he decided to take a short cut over the hill. Lucky animal, I which it was as evortless for us to go over the mountains as he made it look.

Dad part way up the hill - it was shorter but steeper than Santiam

Views from the descent - Jim took the last two photos

After the great descent we road through the Painted Valley to Dayville for lunch. From there the last 23 miles were not exactly hills, but definitely upward grade. We were tired and hot (I'm burnt again - tomorrow 3+ applications of sunscreen) and moving pretty slow, but we made it in and are staying at a state park so I get to make samores tonight. One worrisome factor is that Dad's bike seems to be having issues. We are having a purgatory-esk day tomorrow, 86 miles with 3 big hills, but at that point we should be in Baker City so Dad can look for a bike shop and we can take our rest day 1 day early.

P.S If I don't survive tomorrow I will everything to Andrea :)